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The Monster Ball Tour
The Monster Ball Tour '''is the second concert tour by Lady Gaga to promote The Fame Monster, her sophomore album. The tour was officially announced on October 15, 2009, after her joint concert tour with rapper Kanye West, titled "Fame Kills", was suddenly canceled. Described by Gaga as "the first-ever 'pop electro opera'", The Monster Ball Tour began four days after the release of '''The Fame Monster. Background Initially, hip-hop artist Kanye West and Lady Gaga had plans to launch a joint tour together. Fame Kills: Starring Lady Gaga and Kanye West was confirmed in September, 2009, as a concert tour that West and Gaga would co-headline. In the aftermath of the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, West made a public statement that he would take a break from the music industry following the media and public reaction to his outburst during Taylor Swift's acceptance speech for winning the moonman for "Best Female Video". Nevertheless, the complete schedule for the tour was released, with the tour set to begin on November 10, 2009, in Phoenix, Arizona. Shortly afterwards, the tour was officially canceled without any explanation. Gaga addressed the situation at Billboard's annual Women in Music luncheon where she cited creative differences as the reason for the tour's cancellation. In an interview she stated, "Kanye is going to take a break, but the good news is, I am not." After ensuring the public that she would be embarking on a solo tour in lieu of the defunct tour, Gaga officially announced The Monster Ball Tour on October 15, 2009. The tour had originally been planned to debut in London in early 2010, but was rescheduled, and launched on November 27, 2009, in Montreal, QC. Rapper, Kid Cudi, and singer, Jason Derülo, were confirmed as the supporting act for the tour. While Cudi was confirmed to be supporting Gaga from the beginning of the tour, it was reported that Derülo would join the tour beginning on December 16, 2009. Cudi was kicked off of the tour after the December 14th show due to inappropriate behavior towards a fan. The official poster for the tour features Gaga in her signature Versace 676 sunglasses and what she has dubbed "The Orbit", which she first wore on the October 3, 2009 edition of Saturday Night Live. The contraption was designed by Nasir Mazhar in collaboration with Gaga's own creative production company, Haus of Gaga. Development In an interview with Rolling Stone, Gaga explained that she wanted to put together an expensive looking, beautiful show which would be affordable by her fans. She explained that the tour is a "pop-electro opera" because the theatrics and the story elements interwoven in the tour are played like an opera. According to her the design of the show is innovative and forward in terms of creativeness. Gaga wanted to change the shape of the stage and designed one with Haus of Gaga that is "essentially a frame with forced perspective, and the frame is put inside the stage." Gaga explained, the theme of the show is evolution. According to Gaga, the songs on The Fame Monster represents the personal demons that she had faced. Hence while developing the record Gaga spoke about original sin and demons inside human beings. She said, "So we talked about growth, and that led us into this kind of scientific space, and we started talking about evolution and the evolution of humanity and how we begin as one thing, and we become another." This theme of monsters and evolution is supposed to play a part in the fashion for the tour, which according to Gaga is "another level from where we were with the Fame Ball. ... It's going to be a truly artistic experience that is going to take the form of the greatest post-apocalyptic house party that you've ever been to." Although Gaga stated that she was inspired by the things she and Kanye were doing with the Fame Kills tour, she concluded, "...I made a decision based on integrity not to use any of the things that we had designed together." Later, she agreed that it was "the great lost tour". Revamped Monster Ball in 2010 Near the end of the U.S. leg of the tour, Lady Gaga said on twitter : monsterball is amazing,enjoy while u can. im already redesigning it for 2010, the haus tells me there's hospitals who accept people like me (Dec. 19) Gaga told MTV News on Saturday, hours before her Monster Ball stop in San Diego. :"The re-vamping of the Monster Ball Tour is just something feel she has to do, especially since the current version of the tour came together at the very last second. "It's kind of funny because, after Kanye and I split up for this tour, I was really unsure if I could get a show together in time for my fans," "But I didn't want to disappoint them and not tour over Christmas, and I had a new record coming out, so... what's exciting about this show is that I was able to put together something that, in truth, I never would have done if I had a longer amount of time." "So, I put together a show that is so perfectly an avant-garde-performance-art-fashion installation, put in a blender and vomited on as a pop show. It's kind of this amazing theme of evolution, but it's in a garage, and me and all my friends are kind of exploring the music." "But it's a very vacuous space. It's a box, it's a runway, and we have to transform that space to feel like eight different acts throughout the entire show. But for the next version of the Monster Ball, which is going to be in February when I begin in the U.K. with my arena tour, I'm throwing out the stage. My team thinks I'm completely psychotic. But I don't fucking care what they think." Gaga wouldn't divulge too many secrets of the new Monster Ball, but she did say that Danish pop act Alphabeat will serve as the opening act. And she also hinted that her fans will be in for a very big show, in just about every conceivable way. "Well, just to give you an idea, the stage is about four times the size of the one we're on now and conceptually, it's completely different." "One thing that has been lost over the past 10-15 years, in pop music, is the idea of showbiz. And this is definitely going to bring that back." The new show will be like a broadway production. Gaga says, "I play all of my music but it's a story. And the story is that me and my friends are in NY and we are going to The Monster Ball, but we get lost. Our car breaks down and we are having trouble getting there & I tell everyone, 'When you come to the Monster Ball it will set you free & all of the things that you don't like about yourself won't matter anymore.' And, they start to lose faith in me. So, it's got a kind of Wizard of Oz inspiration behind it. And it's this really amazing sort of glam, drug addict opera." Opening Acts *Semi Precious Weapons (All dates) *Alphabeat (United Kingdom and Ireland) *Kid Cudi (November 27th to December 14th only) *Jason Derülo (December 16th to January 26th only) *Lady Starlight (July 6th to September 19th only) *Scissor Scissor Sisters (February 19th to May 6th only) Set List :The show is subject to change, the set list reflects only the last one played. For other variations, see the individual concert page. First Arena Version (North America) #'Jumping Film' (Intro) (contains elements of "Dance in the Dark" and "Finally 2008") #Dance in the Dark #Just Dance #'Puke Film' (Desert) (contains elements of "Tears in the Rain") #LoveGame (contains elements of the 'Chew Fu Guettohouse Fix') #Alejandro #'Raven Film' (Forest) (contains elements of "Girls" and a vocal sample of "Money Honey") #Monster #So Happy I Could Die (except January 21 - 24) #Teeth #Speechless #'Virgin Call Gag' (Only US dates) #Poker Face (Acoustic)/Make Her Say (Performed with KiD CuDi until Dec. 11, 2009) #Poker Face (New York Ode Version) (Only on the New York dates) #'Tank Girl Film' (Egypt) (contains elements of "Dirty Freak" and a vocal sample of "Beautiful, Dirty,Rich") #Fashion (Nov. 27 - Dec. 11 only) #The Fame (contains elements of "Ghosts N Stuff") #Money Honey #Beautiful, Dirty, Rich (contains elements of "Dirty Freak") #'Antler Film' (City) (contains elements of "Fancy Footwork" and "Shook One Pt. II") #Boys Boys Boys #Paper Gangsta (except January 21 - 24) #Poker Face (contains elements of the 'Space Cowboy' remix) #'Monster Film' (Manifesto of Little Monsters) #Paparazzi #Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say) (Encore) #Bad Romance (Encore) #'Tattoo Film' (Opera - Outro) :*a further breakdown of the setlist may be viewed here. Additional Notes *On the first date of the tour in Montreal, Boys Boys Boys was performed after LoveGame, during the other dates, the song was performed before Paper Gangsta. *Beginning December 2nd to December 11th, the Tank Girl Film was followed by an live instrumental, leading to either Fashion, or The Fame. *During the Montreal show, there was stage difficulties causing the stage to be slippery and causing Gaga to fall while performing. Gaga commented about this on her twitter page. *During the December 1st performance, Poker Face was performed after the acoustic version. *A remix of Beautiful, Dirty, Rich was played until December 19. *Starting December 21, The Fame, Money Honey, and Beautiful, Dirty, Rich were played with no pauses in between. *Paper Gangsta was performed with an auto-tuned microphone, only the concert at the Bell Center in Montreal did not feature this. *The Monster Film was first shown on November 29, at the Scotiabank Place in Ottawa. Before that, the Antler Film was played. *Since November 29, the Antler Film was played between Beautiful, Dirty, Rich and Boys Boys Boys. *On December 2nd, Gaga performed the Fernando Garibay remix of Paparazzi. *Poker Face (New York Ode Version) replaced So Happy I Could Die during the three concert days in New York. Second Arena Version (Worldwide) ACT I: City : 1. Intro Film (Introduction) (contains elements of "Dance in the Dark" and "Finally 2008") : 2. Dance In the Dark : 3. Glitter and Grease : 4. Just Dance : 5. Beautiful, Dirty, Rich : 6. Vanity (ending contains distorted elements of "The Fame") (Removed September 16th) : 7. The Fame (contains elements of "Ghosts N Stuff") : 8. Puke Film (Interlude) (contains elements of "Dance in the Dark") ACT II: Subway : 9. LoveGame (contains elements of the 'Chew Fu Guettohouse Fix' remix) :10. Boys Boys Boys :11. Money Honey + Virgin Call Gag (North American Leg Only) :12. Telephone :13. Brown Eyes (Worldwide Except North American Leg) :14. Stand By Me (Only on May 15, May 18, May 28 – June 2 2010) :15. Speechless :16. You and I (North American Leg + Second European Leg) :17. Living on the Radio (Only on August 30 2010) :18. Jump Film/Tornado (Interlude) :19. So Happy I Could Die :20. Antler Film (Interlude) (contains elements of "Fancy Footwork" and "Shook One Pt. II") ACT III: Forest :21. Monster :22. Teeth :23. Alejandro :24. Monster Film (Interlude) :25. Poker Face (contains elements of the 'Space Cowboy' remix) :26. Apocalyptic Film (Interlude) ACT IV: Monster Ball :27. Paparazzi (Battling a Paparazzo) :28. Bad Romance (Encore) :29. Fan Film (Outro) Additional Notes *On the first few dates of the tour, the light used to make a silhouette of Gaga during Dance in the Dark was blue, but was then changed to purple. *Transcription of the dialogue can be found here. *The interludes are re-edited footage from the previous version of the tour. These "new" interludes include remixed song with A Capella of her songs only. *The small part of the new remix used during the Puke Film, was used during Gaga's performance at the BRIT Awards 2010. *The version of Money Honey and Beautiful, Dirty, Rich performed is a short edit of the album version. *During the opening of the Manchester concert there were several changes and issues. **There were soundcheck problems, causing most of the back-track was louder than Gaga's own vocals causing controversy that she may have been lip syncing during the concert. **There was a kitchen fire backstage, causing the show to be late, and almost cancelled. **The Antler Film had a different audio, which samples part of So Happy I Could Die. **During the Twister Film, the screen was not aligned, and the only instrument heard was the harp. **During the Monster Film, the only audio used was Gaga reading out the Manifesto of Little Monsters. *On the opening night, several of Gaga's props went missing. *During her March 3rd show at the CIA Cardiff International Arena, the runway was not part of the stage as the venue was not large enough to accomodate it and therefore "So Happy I Could Die" was not performed. There was also a section for Gold Circle standing tickets. *During the first London show, Gaga had a new Disco Stick, one that was bigger and more brighter than the previous two Disco Sticks.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mpl_5EB9xZg *During the first London show, Gaga commenting upon breaking a heel, "I'd rather die than perform without my shoes". *After the first Manchester show, "Antler Film" (or "Put Your Paws Up") was back but slightly remixed. *Gaga's outfits in the Japan leg differed from the first European/Australian dates: these continued into her later dates. *During a Swedish show, Gaga used a new lift/elevator prop. *During the Hamburg show there were technical difficulties during Vanity. *As of May 15, Gaga has performed Stand By Me between the original piano set list of Brown Eyes and Speechless. However, seven shows later, the song was removed. It was later was re-added to Gaga's setlist after. *During the Arnhem show in May, Gaga dedicated "Speechless" to the 9-year old boy who survived an plane crash. More about it. *During her May 27 show at the Trent FM Arena Nottingham, the runway was not part of the stage due to logistical errors of the venue and therefore "So Happy I Could Die" was not performed. *Gaga debuted Living on the Radio on August 30th. *You and I and Living on the Radio were added to the set list for the North American leg. *Lady Gaga's high school dream was to headline Madison Square Garden, which she sold out three nights (July 6th, 7th and 9th) during The Monster Ball Tour. *During the Madison Square Garden show, the interlude in the projector screen had two videos. One on the left and one on the right, due to a big venue *in The North America Monster Ball the Puke Film has been slightly revised containing new elements. (Some are Parts of Tattoo Film) *During the July 31st Phoenix AZ concert Gaga did not perform "Brown Eyes"; she instead gave her stance on Arizona's SB1070. *During Lollapalooza, Vanity, Brown Eyes, and So Happy I Could Die were not performed. *On an August 11th radio interview, Gaga stated that it Lollapalooza was basically the Monster Ball outdoors. *On August 11th, Britney Spears attended the Monster Ball at Staples Center, along with Perez Hilton and Nicola Formichetti. A few songs in, Spears met with Gaga back stage. *On August 12th, Gwen Stefani and Rose McGowan attended the show, and McGowan showed her support by taking to her twitter, saying Gaga Performed] a public service. Telling the "God Hates Fags douchebags" to go fuck themselves. *On September 7th, a fight broke out during the show, and Gaga asked to stop the music to break up the fight, while continuing the Monster Ball scipt, with "Do you think I'm sexy?" *On September 8th, Gaga wore a new wig, similar to a wig she wore during the Fame era, only dyed yellow. *On September 8th, Vanity was not performed. *On September 15th, in Philadelphia, Lady Gaga revealed that her upcoming album, "Born This Way", was completely finished. She then performed You and I, a song which will appear on her next record. *On September 16th, at the XL Center, in Hartford, Gaga didn't use Angler Fish, instead she had several background dancers "Fame Monsters" attack her. *Vanity was removed after Philly's Monster Ball (16 sept). Tour Dates : See concerts in 2009 and 2010 with (Monster Ball) before the venue name. Films (Interludes) : See the Interlude & Backdrop for more information about them. Monster Ball Extensions Tour Book Gaga teamed up with Terry Richardson after the photoshoot for Vogue Magazine. Terry wanted to photograph Gaga during her offstage presence, document what she did when she wasn't performing. Related articles about The Monster Ball Tour *The Monster Ball - Synopsis *The Monster Ball - Fashion *The Monster Ball - Dialogue transcript *The Monster Ball - Credits *The Monster Ball - Interludes *The Monster Ball - Props *EMMA (Technology) Category:Concert tour